The New York Times - USA (2020-11-09)

B2 N THE NEW YORK TIMES, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2020

TECHNOLOGY | EDUCATION | INTERNATIONAL

It’s November, and I’m going to call
it: 2020 was the year when technology
proved both more essential in our lives
than ever and largely irrelevant in the
most important parts of it.
As the United States neared the
conclusion to a tight presidential elec-
tion, the nation’s spotlight was on the
least technological scene imaginable:
bureaucrats methodically checking and
double-checking pen-and-paper ballots.
Those ballots were in some cases deliv-
ered by the Postal Service, whose ori-
gins date back more than 200 years.
The American voting system is frag-
mented, overly complicated, under-
funded and prone to incompetence or
comical accidents. Yet it worked pretty
well in an election that was profoundly
altered by the pandemic.
Sometimes boring is better. But in
America, because boring is boring,we
tend to undervalue it.
But blockchain did not tally the votes.
Artificial intelligence didn’t rejigger
polling places for coronavirus safety
measures. Robots didn’t wait in long
lines to vote (I don’t think). That time
40 years ago — it was February —
when the Iowa Democratic Party tried
to improve the complicated caucus
tallying system with an app... yeah, it
didn’t go very well. Our voting system
might be an anachronism, but technol-
ogy is probably not the answer.
We know about the technology that
mattered in 2020, too, to keep us work-
ing, schooling, communicating, playing
and understanding the world at a time
when none of that was normal. Even
this election season, candidates cam-
paigned through screens and people
organized, donated and spread good
and bad information through screens.
But I also know that when we’re
facing a challenge it’s tempting to be-
lieve that technology is the answer.
That driverless cars would eliminate
road accidents. That body cameras
would fight bias in policing. That new
technology mean better health care,
better education and a healthier planet.

That social media would give voice to the voiceless. That tech would solve the problems caused by tech. There is truth in all of this, of course. Technology can be an incredibly useful tool. But technology is not magic. Most of the important stuff that hap- pened this year pointed to the essential nature of boring stuff: Smart public policy or the lack of it. Good leadership making good decisions, or the lack of it. Medicine and science that iterates and learns. Human ingenuity and kindness to feed hungry people and look out for our family and neighbors. People making do. People planting their feet on the streets in rage and sadness at the mis- treatment of their fellow Americans. The things that mattered were the roughly 160 million Americans who squeezed in time after a late shift or

ignored the shrieking of their kids at home to vote. And the people and insti- tutions that delivered or tallied votes in the most boring way possible. People dressed as Postal Service mailboxes shimmied at a protest in Philadelphia on Thursday. If you needed a symbol of our utterly un-tech mailbox election, there it was. That is what I will remember from this year in technology. That technology didn’t matter so much for the most important stuff. Technology is not the answer. We are.

David gets indigestion from Goliath When upstarts that began online buy stodgy but famous old names, people like me get to wax poetic about how the upstarts are swallowing the old-timers. Amazon’s takeover of Whole Foods

was a moment for a new economy king to assert its dominance. An iconic de- partment store chain, Lord & Taylor, sold itself last year to a clothing rental start-up called Le Tote. GoPuff, an app that drunk college students use to order Cheetos and other convenience store items and has expanded its reach, this week agreed to acquire a much-loved chain of liquor stores. (OK, a liquor store is not Lord & Taylor. But people do love BevMo.) These milestones tend to lead to reflections on how time marches on. In with the new, out with the old. How the mighty have fallen. Etc. Sometimes yes. But sometimes when David takes over a Goliath, it also proves the enduring value of the stodgy old guard. Or it’s a sign that the young upstart doesn’t know what it’s doing.

When Amazon bought Whole Foods three years ago, it showed Amazon’s confidence and boundless ambition. But it was also Amazon — a company that defined store-less shopping for a quar- ter-century — saying that stores still matter, and Amazon didn’t quite know how to do them on its own. It didn’t take long for Le Tote to choke on Lord & Taylor, and both companies filed for bankruptcy protection this year. In hindsight, when the office rental start-up WeWork struck a deal to buy Lord & Taylor’s famous New York building in 2017, it was the peak of WeWork’s hubris. WeWork has since had a hubris crash and had to sell the building. To Amazon. The fusion of online specialists and old-guard brands often makes sense in principle. But it’s always worth asking when the little guy hitches itself to a venerable old-timer: What weakness is it trying to compensate for?

Before we go...

■Falsehoods travel at the speed of light: A Facebook group called “Stop the Steal” became one of the fastest- growing groups in the company’s history and a hub for people to falsely claim the ballot count was rigged against President Trump. Facebook executives shut it down for trying to incite violence, my colleague Sheera Frenkel reported.

■What if making Facebook worse actually makes it better? Kevin Roose, a technology columnist for The New York Times, wonders if Facebook, Twit- ter and other internet companies that disabled key features like easy sharing to slow the spread of election-related misinformation can ever justify return- ing to the status quo.

■Counterprogramming (Day 2)! Brian X. Chen and Mike Isaac again played video games for work and concluded that they prefer the new PlayStation console to the latest Xbox.

Voting Is Pretty Boring, Thank Goodness

If nothing else, this year has shown that technology can be both essential and irrelevant.

ANGIE WANG

On Tech

By SHIRA OVIDE

This essay was adapted from the On Tech newsletter, which gets delivered every weekday. To sign up, go to nytimes.com/ newsletters

On Election Day, Multnomah
County, which includes Portland,
Ore., passed one of the most pro-
gressive universal preschool poli-
cies in the nation.
The measure, to be paid for by a
large tax on high earners, will pro-
vide free preschool for all children
ages 3 and 4, in public schools and
in existing and new private pre-
schools and home-based child
care centers. It will also signifi-
cantly raise teachers’ wages so
they are equivalent to those of kin-
dergarten teachers.
It seeks to overcome the central
problem in early childhood care
and education: It is unaffordable
for many families, yet teachers
are underpaid. The solution, Mult-
nomah County voters decided, is
to finance preschool with public
funding instead of private tuition,
and to pay teachers much more.
It also seeks to overcome some
of the pitfalls of universal pre-
school policies in places like New
York and Washington, D.C. In do-
ing so, early childhood re-
searchers say the policy could
serve as a blueprint for the rest of
the country.
“This was focused on access to
quality preschool, so when chil-
dren enter kindergarten, they are
able to succeed,” said Jessica Vega
Pederson, a county commissioner
and a chairwoman, with Sahar
Muranovic, of the measure’s
steering committee. “And to do
that, we needed to raise wages.”
Caregiving has become a much
more politically salient issue. The
closings of schools and child care
centers because of the coronavi-
rus made clear the extent to which
the sector underpins the economy.
Joseph R. Biden Jr. has made care-
giving a part of his economic plan,
including universal preschool,
and better pay and benefits for
teachers. On Election Day, early
education ballot initiatives also
passed in St. Louis, San Antonio
and Colorado, which approved
universal pre-K for 4-year-olds.
Child care is the largest ex-
pense for many families, and yet
educators — who are dispropor-
tionately Black and Latino women
— earn an average of $12 an hour,
according to the center for the
study of child care employment at
the University of California,
Berkeley. Half rely on public as-
sistance. Even when they have
the same education, preschool
teachers earn half of what kinder-
garten teachers do, the center
found.
Research has shown that high-
quality preschool is beneficial for
children, particularly those from
low-income families. It helps them
prepare for kindergarten — aca-
demically, socially and behavior-

ally — and shrinks achievement gaps. Research has shown that for poor children, it results in in- creased earnings and better health later in life. Low-quality preschool, though, can be worse than none at all. Yet it costs a lot of money to run a high-quality program. And some of the things it requires — like highly trained teachers and low turnover so teachers can develop relationships with children — are

hard to achieve without raising teachers’ pay. The Multnomah County measure will pay preschool teachers roughly the same as public kindergarten teachers — around $74,000 a year for lead teachers, up from $31,000. Teaching assistants will earn about $20 an hour. The measure will eventually raise $202 million a year from taxpayers. It plans to add an estimated 12,000 preschool spots and hire 2,300 teachers. “Teacher pay versus affordability is the major crisis all across the child-care landscape,” said Dan Wuori, director of early learn- ing at the Hunt Institute, an education policy research group affili- ated with Duke University. “We’ve had this broken system for decades, where quality is sometimes lacking and the affordability

of the system for families is really subsidized on the backs of a low- income work force, many of whom are women of color. “On paper at least, this measure addresses both of those con- cerns.” The policy draws on recent early education research and tries to avoid the unintended conse- quences that have befallen other universal preschool programs. For example, discrimination in discipline starts as early as preschool, research shows, and Black boys are much more likely than other children to be suspended or expelled. The measure forbids ex- pulsions from preschool, and pro- vides training for how to address challenging behavior instead. Another example: Public pre-K in places like New York and Wash- ington, D.C., has ended up de- creasing the supply of infant and toddler care programs. The Mult- nomah County measure aims to prevent that by paying providers to maintain those programs. The new measure also addresses two of the central debates in early childhood policy. First, it will be universal, not aimed at children from low-income families. (The program will start with children with the great- est need and take full effect in a decade.) Proponents of targeted programs say they’re most effective because children from low-income families benefit most from free preschool, and it costs less to make it free for a smaller group of students. Universal programs, though, are more politically popular and, research shows, have more benefits for children. They are less seg- regated, and children learn from spending time with peers from different socioeconomic and racial backgrounds. The programs are more effective, most likely because they are held to higher

standards and families become more invested in them, according to research by Elizabeth Cascio, an economist at Dartmouth. Another debate in early childhood policy is whether teachers should be required to have college or equivalent degrees. When they do, it’s associated with high-quality care and teaching — but evi- dence suggests that it’s not enough on its own, and backfires if not coupled with higher pay. Oth- erwise, it shrinks the work force and makes it more white at a time when the student population is becoming more diverse. Research has found that when children have teachers of the same race, it can benefit their behavior, academic growth and motivation. The Multnomah County measure requires that lead teachers have a college degree or its equivalent, and that assistants have an associate degree in child development. But it gives current teachers time and money to earn the qualifications, and includes a plan to partner with local colleges to train new teachers. “Other communities realized the work force problem and are always chasing after that,” said Megan Irwin, a consultant who worked on the policy. “We built it from the beginning.” Another lesson for other states or localities, local organizers said: The policy was devised by a large and diverse group, including par- ents, child care providers and economists. It merged two measures from different groups — one a volunteer campaign and the other backed by a county official and a social venture investment group. The process was messy, but by including so many groups, it addressed their needs early, they said. Eventually, individuals will pay a 2.3 percent tax on taxable income over $125,000, and house- holds will pay that tax on taxable income over $200,000. The tax will increase to 3.8 percent on individ- ual income over $250,000 and household income over $400,000. “Tax the rich” was a tagline for the campaign by one of the groups behind the measure, the Portland chapter of the Democratic Social- ists of America. Of course, Portland is known as a progressive bastion, and in other communities “tax the rich” may be a political drawback rather than a selling point. But even if other places choose to finance universal preschool in a different way, researchers said, there is growing bipartisan sup- port for the goal. Results would be results, and if Multnomah Coun- ty’s policy worked well, they said, it could become a national model.

Oregon Preschool Policy Could Be National Model

The cost of high-quality preschool is unaffordable for many families.

DUSTIN FRANZ FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

$74,000 Roughly what preschool teachers in one Oregon County will earn a year.

By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER

For poor children,

high-quality

preschool’s benefits

extend later in life.

ISTANBUL — Turkey’s finance minister, Berat Albayrak, the son-in- law of President Recep Tayyip Er- dogan, announced his resignation Sunday evening amid escalating fallout over the country’s collaps- ing economy and plunging cur- rency. Mr. Albayrak said in a personal letter posted on Instagram that he was stepping down for health rea- sons after five years as finance minister under Mr. Erdogan. His resignation comes a day after the head of Turkey’s central bank was replaced. Critics say dis- astrous economic policies have plunged the country’s economy into a crisis, with the lira tumbling 30 percent this year. Mr. Albayrak’s departure may also signal a recalibration by Mr. Erdogan in reaction to the election of Joseph R. Biden Jr. in Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election. Part of Mr. Albayrak’s portfolio was to handle relations with the White House through his friendship with President Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner. Mr. Albayrak and Mr. Kushner had maintained contact via WhatsApp and managed an infor- mal next-generation communica- tion between the two leaders that skirted official protocol and helped earn Mr. Albayrak a meet- ing with Mr. Trump in the Oval Of- fice last year. “I think primarily the driver for his resignation is the collapse of the economy,” said Soner Cagap- tay, director of the Turkish Re- search Program at the Washing- ton Institute for Near East Policy. “But maybe another reason is that the job has expired.” Mr. Erdogan has managed his growing economic and political difficulties in part through the benefits of his friendship with Mr. Trump. The country has so far averted sanctions for buying the Russian S-400 missile system and avoided substantial fines on the Turkish state bank, Halkbank, for its role in violating U.S. sanctions on Iran. A Biden administration could exercise greater firmness in handling Turkey. And Mr. Erdogan — who has yet to congratulate Mr. Biden on his victory — may be act- ing to place Turkey’s economy in steadier hands. Mr. Erdogan has appointed Naci Agbal, a former finance minister who is seen as a loyal but ca- pable manager, to head the central bank. Mr. Agbal is known for his opposition to Mr. Albayrak’s economic policies over the last two years. There was no official comment

Sunday on whether Mr. Erdogan had received or accepted Mr. Al- bayrak’s offer to resign. The Turk- ish television networks did not carry reports of his resignation. Social media in Turkey was filled with comments Sunday evening about the development, though, as supporters called on Mr. Erdogan not to accept his son- in-law’s resignation and oppo- nents posted videos of traditional dances in celebration. Mr. Albayrak, who is married to Mr. Erdogan’s eldest daughter, Esra, has been seen as a potential political heir to Mr. Erdogan. But the tone of the resignation letter indicated heartfelt disap- pointment on Mr. Albayrak’s part, and he mentioned the president only in passing. Mr. Albayrak thanked his colleagues, God and the wider Muslim community for allowing him to serve his country, but notably he did not thank Mr. Erdogan. He also made an oblique refer- ence to infighting within the leadership, saying it was hard to dif- ferentiate between friends and en- emies and right from wrong. Mr. Albayrak, 42, earned a busi- ness degree at Pace University in New York and was chief executive of the Turkish conglomerate Calik Holdings before becoming a mem- ber of Turkey’s Parliament. He joined the cabinet in 2015 as ener- gy minister and was appointed minister of treasury and finance in 2018, essentially becoming the country’s economic czar under Mr. Erdogan’s newly strength- ened presidential system. But his handling of the economy has been widely criticized as dis- mal. It has gone hand in hand with Mr. Erdogan’s increasing interfer- ence in decisions by the central bank and in the judiciary, which has undermined the confidence of businesses and investors. As foreign investment has dried up, rising inflation and unemploy- ment have politically damaged Mr. Erdogan, who has long won popularity by delivering a middle- class lifestyle to Turks. This year Mr. Albayrak spent Turkish foreign reserves to shore up the lira, which has fallen to 8.5 to the dollar from 3.5 in 2017. Not only has he failed to stop the lira’s decline, but on several occasions he made light of the falling ex- change rate, saying he was not concerned about the U.S. dollar. “He will go down in history as an incompetent minister who ru- ined the Turkish economy,” Aykan Erdemir, a former Turkish opposition lawmaker and Turkey program director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, posted on Twitter.

As Turkey’s Economy Collapses,

Erdogan’s Finance Chief Resigns

By CARLOTTA GALL

The New York Times - USA (2020-11-09)

B2 N THE NEW YORK TIMES, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2020

TECHNOLOGY | EDUCATION | INTERNATIONAL

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